This invention relates to a combined toilet and waste holding tank used for portable, outdoor-type toilets.
Conventional portable toilets comprise a cabana or housing within which a toilet and waste holding tank is mounted. Typically, cabanas are made of large sheets of plastic which are thermo-formed or otherwise bent and connected together to form rear and side walls, a front wall providing a doorway and door, a roof and floor. The cabana or housing forms an enclosure having a relatively small floor space.
Usually, a relatively large size waste material holding tank is positioned within the cabana and may occupy roughly one half of the floor space. Conventionally, the upper cover or panel of the tank, is provided with a toilet opening over which a toilet seat and cover is positioned. Commonly, a urinal construction is fastened to a wall, within the cabana, along side of the tank and, in some installations, a sink or wash bowl may also be provided.
Examples of such types of portable toilets, including their cabanas and toilet and waste tank constructions, are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,447,167, issued Jun. 3, 1969 to David B. Harding, for a Portable Toilet Cabana; U.S. Pat. No. 3,835,480, issued Sep. 17, 1974 to George W. Harding for a Chemical Toilet Cabana; U.S. Pat. No. 4,031,572, issued Jun. 28, 1977, to George W. Harding for a Chemical Toilet Cabana Shell Section; U.S. Pat. No. 4,577,351, issued Mar. 25, 1986, to George W. Harding for a Portable Toilet Cabana; U.S. Pat. No. 4,831,671, issued May 23, 1989 to George W. Harding for a Portable Toilet Cabana and U.S. Pat. No. 4,918,765, issued Apr. 24, 1990 to George W. Harding for a Portable Toilet Cabana.
Another example of a combined toilet and waste holding tank is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,435,464, issued on Apr. 1, 1969 to David B. Harding for a Portable Toilet. This patent discloses a tank having a cover upon which a toilet construction is formed so that the tank may be used as a toilet as well as a static waste collector. In this construction, as in comparable outdoor toilet constructions, the toilet waste material is removed from time to time by pumping the material, through a hose, from the tank into the collection tank of a waste removal truck.
While the types of combined toilets and tanks disclosed, for example, in the foregoing patents, are satisfactory, it would be desirable to make them more user-friendly for both men and women and to better utilize or make available more of the limited space commonly provided within a toilet cabana. Thus, this present invention relates to an improved combined toilet and waste-holding tank as will be further described below.
Further disclosures of a preferred embodiment of this invention are made in co-pending applications identified as U.S. Ser. No. 08/380,680, filed Jan. 30, 1995 (Attorney Docket No. 6823-00024) and U.S. Ser. No. 08/380,681, filed Jan. 30, 1995 (Attorney Docket No. 6823-00027) which disclosures are incorporated herein by reference.